Tokyo Metropolitan legislator Reiko Matsushita, a Democratic Party of
Japan member elected from the Musashino-Shi District (in Western Tokyo,)
held a public meeting where she reported to the audience regarding her
recent legislative activities. Her report was followed by a presentation
by Takashi Yamaguchi of Link Law Office Kito and Partners, based in Tokyo.
Attorney Yamaguchi discussed in depth regarding the current proposal to
revise the Tokyo Metropolitan ordinance regarding the healthy development
of youths. After the presentation, a discussion over the revision bill
took place between Matsushita and Yamaguchi, and finally, questions from
the audience were answered by both.

The meeting lasted over 2 hours and a large conference room was packed
solid. Seating for 100 people were available, but over 30 people were without
seating, so the total attendance was at least 130. According to staffers
of Matsushita, meetings are regularly attended by about 30 people.

What follows is a brief rundown of the topics that were covered specific
to the Tokyo Youth Development Ordnance. I won't claim to have covered
everything that was discussed, simple because there was so much. A full
account of the meeting would turn this report in to a massive paper instead
of a concise survey of the subjects covered, so please keep that in mind.

As a member of the budget committee, Matsushita attempted to ask questions
regarding the revision of the bill on March 12th. The heckling she endured
on the floor was astonishing.

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) legislators did not take part in the
drafting of the bill. This was conducted by Tokyo Metropolitan Government
(TMG) officials based on suggestions submitted by the 28th Tokyo Youth
Affairs Conference (28th TYAC,) a committee of social activists, academics,
TMG officials and other concerned individuals chosen by the Governor Ishihara.

While the public was invited to submit feedback over the 28th TYAC's
suggestions, and while these comments have been entered into the public
record, the TMG has refused to release the approximately 1600 entries,
even to the legislators. One legislator has submitted a court filing to
get the entries disclosed.

Matsushita raised a number clear concerns over the bill, namely how
the bill allows the governor and his/her counterparts to direct advise
against parents over lawful speech by their children if they run afoul
of certain guidelines established by the TMG, and how children between
the ages of 0-18 are grouped together to a single category in the zoning
provision of this bill.

While deliberation on the bill was extended thanks to DPJ and others
in the general affairs committee of the TMA, there were numerous DPJ members
who wanted to pass this law in its current form. It was dogged persuasion
by younger DPJ legislators, mass influx of email and letters by everyday
people, and the direct petitions by comic book authors plus some industry
groups that made the critical difference, and even still, it was a very
very close call.

Yamaguchi's presentation was focused on the language of the bill. As
a lawyer, it is the wording and specific elements in the bill that is important.
He mentioned how numerous reporters have come to him for an interview,
yet most of them had not bothered to read the bill itself. This is one
reason why much of the mass media has been so willing to accept the assurances
of the TMG that the bill is not radical or over-broad, according to Yamaguchi.

Yamaguchi notes that zoning provisions should be analyzed in terms of
1) what is being zoned, 2) how is it being zoned, and 3) for what purpose
is it being zoned. These three questions are important to keep in mind
when considered how the bill was created and what impact the bill will
have once it becomes law.

The lack of transparency in how the bill was devised in the initial
drafting stage of the 28th TYAC's meetings was very troubling and there
was hardly any oversight by non-TMG parties. The meeting were largely conducted
behind closed doors and even the legislators were not shown drafts of the
bill until the very last minutes. (i.e. Two days before debate of the bill
was to start.) In recent statements released, the TMG continues to claim
in the bill is being "misunderstood," and that opponents are "misguided"
in their fear that the bill would have a broad impact and have a massive
chilling effect on the Japanese entertainment industry.

And yet, gleaning through the language of the bill, Yamaguchi states
that it is very clear that the TMG wishes to exert control over morality
of the public. As it stands, the bill grants the TMG with discretion over
how public can conceptualize youth and sexuality, not just in terms of
safeguarding welfare of minors that exit, but regulate how people can fantasize
if the subject deals with "nonexistent youth." Even though this bill is
mostly a zoning provision, by penalizing certain types of fiction as being
"harmful" and forcing the material to be regulated to an adult only category,
this would be the kiss of death for many titles. Because the language
in the bill is so vague, the TMG would have sole discretion over what constitutes
"anti-social" material that should be regulated.

Yamaguchi also pointed out there is a section in the bill that states
that the TMG shall support public efforts toward preventing of "rampant
availability" of fictional visual representations of sexualized youth,
thereby meaning citizens would be encouraged to act as agents of censorship.
This is particularly noteworthy since policing action by citizens would
not constitute government censorship or regulations, and thus they could
engage in actions that would be unconstitutional if conducted by the government.
Using citizens to police material created by other citizens is a very dangerous
construct to say the least.

As an attorney that has represented many clients that were inducted
into religious cults and manipulated by them, Yamaguchi took care to point
out creating a generation that is dependent on others to tell them what
their morality should be is not a very good idea. It creates a state of
dependency on the part of the populace for the police and government to
tell them what should be good or evil, and as a general rule, a populace
such as that would be gullible and susceptible to abuse. A weak minded
populace creates further rationale for increased "protective powers" on
the part of government, so Yamaguchi feels this is a very dangerous path
to follow.

In the course of discussion between Matsushita and Yamaguchi, concerns
over granting Tokyo with such extensive power to protect minors was raised.
While the one size fits all element of grouping all minor as a single entity
was criticized, another element was how judgment and self-reliance on the
part of minor were completely disregarded. Minors, the group that this
bill directly impacts, were not at all involved in the creation of this
bill.

The two argued more external experts and critics of the bill should
be given an opportunity to address their concerns of this bill, as not
enough hard questions have been asked.

Regarding the recent Sankei news article about the DPJ and LDP conducting
talks about finding an compromise, according to Matsushita, this could
not be verified with the DPJ leadership in the TMA. It appears someone
may have fabricated this discussion for whatever purposes. Members of the
DPJ have protested the Sankei newspaper as filing a false report. (Unfortunately,
this is not a first.) The bill is still very much up for debate in June,
and unless the pressure against the bill is maintained, Matsushita states
it could very well pass in its current form.

Claims that Sankei fabricated the story are very serious, so I will
provide specific statement made by members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly
to prove that this was not made up.

Matsushita said more people must raise their voices and educate others
over the dangers this bill. A wide variety of voices is essential, or else
the comic book and animation industry will be charged as being obstructionist
toward improving the welfare of children. Popular opposition must be made
much more clear and must be shown to be large in numbers. The proponents
of the bill claim that only a small minority of people are against it and
many people are misguided in their understanding of the bill. This has
to be proven false.

Yamaguchi added that the Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety
of the TMG was startled that their proposal was met with such opposition.
The LDP and KMT members of the assembly continue to pin their hopes on
passing the bill without any changes come this June. Both assembly members
and the certain officials in the TMG, and even certain members of the national
police force, feel that they have lost face with the failure to pass the
bill in March, and thus both Yamaguchi and Matsushita warn that they will
resort to all manners of tactics to try to get the bill passed in June.
The fact that the Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety has released
numerous announcements trying to quell opposition to the bill is a case
in point.

Time turned to answering some questions from the audience.

Someone asked a question regarding what is the intent and functions
of the these youth development committees.

According to Yamaguchi, national law stipulates the establishment of
youth affairs conferences in local bodies of Japan, where as the Tokyo
Youth Healthy Development Evaluation Panel is a body created by metropolitan
ordinances. Theoretically, the Tokyo Youth Healthy Development Evaluation
Panel is supposed to act as a ombudsman council against abuse by TMG officials
regarding youth regulation, but in fact, it simply acts as a regulatory
body that gives blessing to designating certain products as being "harmful
to minors."

One person asked, how did this bill come into being? Matsushita attended
some sessions of the 28th TYAC and observed that the members clearly wanted
to rid Tokyo of "all unsavory and despicable forms of manga, anime and
games." She surmises that these people were set off by extreme examples
of erotic manga aimed for adults and were dead-set on getting rid of all
erotic manga as a result. This extreme desire was condensed and revamped
by the bureaucracy of the Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety and
turned into the current bill. Matsushita claims the 28th TYAC clearly wanted
to regulate everything, material for both adult and general audiences,
but they started off with what they thought was an easy target--fictional
anti-social sexual portrayals of youth that is "not sexually stimulating,
but is caustic to youth nonetheless" under the guise of "protecting the
youth from psychological harm."

Yamaguchi wished the Governor Ishihara would be more judicious in supporting
such a regulatory expansion over fiction, as he himself was target to intense
criticism by the PTA and others following his publication of Season of
the Sun and other novels in the 1950's.

I (Kanemitsu) asked the question voiced by many fans overseas--Why is
the TMG purposely going after a segment of the Japanese economy that is
contributing growth? Anime, manga and video games are considered to be
one of the most competitive and worthy part of Japan's software and content
creation industry.

To this, Yamaguchi pointed out that one common argument by the proponents
of this bill follows the logic of "you can't put a dollar figure on protecting
youth." In other words, even if there is an economic cost, the reward of
a more wholesome environment for minors makes the cost worthwhile. Of course,
the question of what actual reward can be secured from strangulating the
artistic community is one that is wide open to debate, but frankly, those
who are advocating this debate are so convinced in their logic that trying
to debate them on this subject may not be very productive.

On the part of the bureaucrats of the TMG, Yamaguchi reminds us that
Tokyo is a very big bureaucracy and that many branches really don't see
eye to eye on numerous issues. For example, the Bureau of Industrial and
Labor Affairs of the TMG actively supports and aids the anime and manga
industry--The Tokyo International Anime Fair is one such endeavor.

But Yamaguchi also pointed out that, as a rule, bureaucrats' salaries
have nothing to do with economic activities of the public marketplace,
and instead have everything to do with controlling and regulating public
activities. The power to regulate more means more budgets and increased
staff. There is every reason why the TMG would want to extend their power
over anime, manga and video games, especially since the Office for Youth
Affairs and Public Safety is famous for being a department very low on
funds, according to Matsushita.

Furthermore, the department currently involved in revision of the youth
protection ordinance--the Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety--have
numerous career officers from the National Police Agency in its ranks.
While the TMG is a local body, the National Police Agency sends their upper
tier management officers into this department, and appears to be attempting
to help expand the supervisory role of the police over the public even
more. It was been noted that two senior members of the Office for Youth
Affairs and Public Safety that are most involved with the current bill--Office
Director Jyun Kurata and Youth Section Chief Mika Sakurai--are both police
officers, even though their emphasis over this revision has been one of
portraying this as a civilian morality issue instead of a law and order
issue.

Another person asked how one could counter the argument that this bill
would make it more difficult for victims of sexual violence from inadvertently
coming in contact with fictional sexually explicit material featuring sexual
violence.

Yamaguchi answered that society would cease to function if you had to
constantly be mindful of not hurting every other person's feelings over
something. It would be important to make sure that there is some form of
appropriate warnings over the contents of something such as sexual violence
to prevent flashbacks and such, but this could be worked on in the preexisting
regulatory regime.

Matsushita argues that, while proponents of the revision have stated
that Tokyo is awash with sexually explicit material that is supposedly
in full view all the time, she has not found that to be true, even in Akihabara.
Sexually explicit material is zoned fairly well, so someone inadvertently
coming across such material is not likely.

Another person asked about how the membership of the 28th TYAC was so
lopsided toward increasing regulation. The 27th TYAC involved in the 2003
drafting of the revision of the youth protection ordinance was comprised
of individuals from numerous different attitudes regarding regulation and
youth morality, and produced a more nuanced and even handed revision to
the youth protection ordinance. What happened this time?

Yamaguchi feels that the proponents of expansion of regulation within
the TMG have lost patience with a more nuanced revision process. When the
LDP was more firmly in power within Japan, they had the luxury of comprising
committees with a wider variety of people because 1) they felt they could
get their way even with a diverse membership in the committee, 2) they
wanted a facade of a fair and balanced debate, and 3) the importance of
the revision was not that crucial.

Now, with the LDP and the NKP feeling their backs against the wall after
their crushing defeat in both local (Tokyo) and national elections, and
with the previous defiance on the part of committee members of the 27th
TYAC to tow the party line in 2003, the ruling party and bureaucrats closely
allied with them no longer have such a luxury and packed the conference
with people that would uniformly heed their call. Professor Masahide Maeda,
who became famous after assuming the role of chairman of the National Police
Agency's private research committee of "Protecting Children from the Harms
of the Virtual Society" created 2006, was reportedly surprised at the extent
of opposition both within the 27th TYAC and from the public at large. Maeda
is the chairman of the 28th TYAC specialist subcommittee, the subcommittee
made famous for outrageous statements such as "voices of opposition are
a form violence" and "those that support sexually explicit material featuring
minor should be framed as people with mental ailments and disabilities."

Matsushita attended some of the sessions of the wider 28th TYAC meetings,
and questioned how the wisdom of making fictional anti-social depictions
of sexual situations involving minors subject to regulation. She argued
that this would prevent individuals from talking about sexual abuse through
manga, and as a result of her questioning, the drafting committee added
the language of "positively affirms anti-social sexual situation" to the
bill--Their logic being that now works that "negatively criticizes" anti-social
sexual situations would not be subject to regulation. Matsushita was aghast
at the shortsightedness and blind trust members of the TYAC placed upon
the TMG bureaucracy that would be entrusted with figuring out what is positive
and negative portrayals of sexual situations involving minors. It was clear
that the members of the 28th TYAC was entirely comprised of people who
insisted on expanded regulation, if not outright bans, of material that
they deemed to be offensive and socially dangerous, irregardless of the
constitutionality and/or administrative practicality of such regulation.

Another person asked a popular question regarding the why the preexisting
regulatory framework was not enough? If anti-social depictions of youth
involved in sexual situations were the problem, why not invoke the existing
guideline of regulating "any material that may be detrimental toward the
healthy development of youth because of their capacity to be sexually stimulating,
encourages cruelty, and/or may compel suicide or criminal behavior." Fictional
depictions of anti-social sexual acts surely would fall under the "capacity
to be sexually stimulating," while imaginary sexual acts involving young
children would run afoul of "compels criminal behavior" as engaging in
sexual acts with those under 13 is already illegal in Japan.

Yamaguchi answers that apparently the TMG wants to go after "light-echi"
fiction (not so graphic and somewhat mild depictions of sexual acts) involving
13 to 17 year olds. It goes without saying that this runs contrary to the
TMG's assertion that they only want to go after hard core sexual depictions
featuring young children involved incest and rape.

Both Yamaguchi and Matsushita feel that close analysis of arguments
laid out by the proponents of the revision seem to indicate that they want
to create a near sterile environment regarding sexuality for minors, regardless
of their individual age or maturity.

Another attendee asked why the LDP, long considered to be patron of
big business and corporate interests, would be so willing to go along with
this revision.

Yamaguchi's short answer is that, after their crushing defeat in the
national elections in late summer of 2009, they are frantic about remaining
relevant in politics, and since the governor is LDP, they can claim to
be a "minority ruling party" thanks to their ties to the governor. Since
this revision was initiated by the TMG, with an LDP governor sitting on
top, the LDP would want to make the case that they are the party that is
in control of TMG policies and that the TMG bureaucrats still take the
LDP to be their counterparts in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. This is
why, so far, no LDP assembly persons have gone on record to oppose the
revision.

One of the last questions from the audience was whether or not some
ulterior motives--i.e. creating a regulatory body that would extract money
from publishers and employ retired police officers--might be involved.
Yamaguchi stated very clearly that he did believe that was the case here,
as creating a thin veil of illegality would create a circumstance ripe
for extracting money and holding sway over an entire industry. One such
example is the pachinko industry in Japan--While gambling is illegal in
Japan, winning prizes as part of playing games is considered legal and
selling those prizes after playing pachinko right next door for money is
considered to be "not overtly illegal." The laws regulating the pachinko
and slot machine industry in Japan is Byzantine to say the least and the
police have an active role in shaping policy involving the pachinko industry.
Consequently, there are numerous self-regulatory industry bodies involved
in Japanese pachinko and slot machines, and numerous retired police officers
find very rewarding employment in such bodies as advisors and liaisons.

According to Yamaguchi, there is a very real concern that the ordinance
would be selectively enforced, where regulators would be lax to go after
famous authors with ties to powerful publishing houses and numerous self-regulatory
bodies while authors with little name recognition would be selectively
targeted. If this was conducted, it would create a situation where people
would be penalized for their degree of proximity to the police and TMG
regulators, a situation ripe for cronyism and abuse.

The final question from the audience was voiced by a regular attendee
of the Matsushita's meetings, and it was more of a statement of opinion
rather than a request for information. A middle aged lady, who appeared
to be an enthusiastic supporter of the DPJ, stated that the only effective
way of making sure terrible bills such as this would not come up is to
remove Ishihara from office. He is up for re-election this coming November.
The lady's statement does have some truth, in that, while the Tokyo Assembly
has the power to revise the bill, Governor Ishihara can veto the bill.
To override the veto, you need 2/3 majority, and the LDP caucus is not
interested in granting a legislative victory for the DPJ, so there is a
good chance that no compromise would come about.

The DPJ could theoretically extend deliberations on the bill indefinitely,
but that would give the impression that they are obstructionist. The DPJ
could revise the bill, but if the LDP and NKP does not go along with the
revision, it would be dead on arrival. The DPJ could help kill the bill,
but that would take a lot of political nerve as they could be branded as
"enemies of the wholesome development of youth."

So the call on the part of the older lady for criticizing Ishihara and
supporting the DPJ is not simple partisan rhetoric. She also pointed out
how Agnes Chan's logically flawed and dubious rationale for revision of
the bill is masked quite effectively by her emotional pleas. While the
voices of the opposition are being heard, their language still has a hard
time overcoming the star power held by Agnes Chan and the aura of political
authority emanating from numerous TMG officials and other proponents of
the revision.

This was a sobering but necessary acknowledgement of the hurdles that
still exist over efforts to defeat the revision of the ordinance.

--- --- ----

Some Important Terms

LDP - Liberal Democratic Party. The conservative mainstream party in
Japan that was in power most of the post-war era. The metropolitan caucus
suffered their loss of majority in the July 2009 election, while in the
national level, the LDP lost power following their overwhelming defeat
in the August 30th, 2009 election of the House of Representatives, which
is the lower house of the Japanese national legislative assembly, the Diet.

DPJ - Democratic Party of Japan. The opposition mainstream counterpart
party to the LDP. The DPJ members include elements of both the left (former
socialists) and the right (former LDP and other conservative party members.)
The DPJ, together with the Tokyo Seikatsusha Network political group and
the Japanese Communist Party, has a majority in Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.
However, the governor of Tokyo is still the LDP politician, Shintaro Ishihara,
so the DPJ has a difficult time in initiating legislative actions.

NKT - New Komeito Party. A socially conservative religious party noted
for their desire for increasing social spending. The NKP is closely affiliated
with a large Buddhist sect, the Soka Gakkai. The NKT entered into a political
alliance with non-LDP factions in 1993 to become part of the ruling coalition,
but after 1999, they have entered into a coalition with the LDP. They too
suffered tremendous losses in the recent national election but actually
managed to gain a seat in the local Tokyo election.

Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety - A branch of the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government responsible for affairs related to youth and their public safety.

TYAC - Tokyo Youth Affairs Conference (東京都青少年問題協議会.) A conference
subordinate to the Office for Youth Affairs and Public Safety summoned
by the governor to help aid in the formation and evaluation of policies
pertaining to the youth of Tokyo. The current conference is the 28th Conference
summoned on December 2008 with the goal of "addressing the wholesome development
of youth in an era where mass media increases its spread within society."
Previous sessions of the conference were open to the public, but this was
discontinued after the 3rd meeting of the specialists subcommittee of the
28th Conference. The 28th Conference was responsible for the drafting of
the revision of the youth protection ordinance to include regulation of
"nonexistent youth" involved in anti-social sexual situations and other
controversial provisions. The Governor of Tokyo has the power to select
members of the conference and the 28th Conference is notorious for a membership
skewed toward expanded regulation. The current membership does not include
a single member from the publishing industry nor the film industry.

Tokyo Youth Healthy Development Evaluation Panel (東京都青少年健全育成審議会)
- A panel subordinate to the TMG that deliberates and chooses which books
are to be designated as being harmful. The membership of the panel is comprised
of members of the publishing and film industry, a member from the convenience
stores self-regulatory group, members of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly,
newspaper editorialists, officials of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government,
and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police. While over 150 books are purchased each
month to be evaluated for its "harmful impact" on minors, less the 10 books
are usually designated as actually being harmful. There are numerous preliminary
meetings that are conducted prior to the evaluation panel itself, and therefore
there is considerable negotiations between the entertainment industry that
creates material consumed by the public and the officials that regulate
the material. The make-up of the Tokyo Youth Healthy Development Evaluation
Panel is designated by law and therefore is less prone to political interference.

Please direct all correspondence
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